The Kandy Esela Perehera is usually held in month of July or
August. It’s being held in the Sri Lankan hill capital, Kandy. This is a colorful
procession with a festival atmosphere. No it is not like Rio Del Jenerio
Carnival. This is a holy festival. This historical procession is held annually
to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which is housed in at
Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.
This artistic procession comprises of many traditional
dances. Such as fire dances, whip dances, kandyan dances and various other
cultural dances to make the parade beautiful. Then the there are many elephants
are paraded during this event. They are dressed in colourful lavish garments to
make the parade glamorous. The Main
elephant will parade the Scared Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha during the Perahera.
The scared tooth Relic of Lord Buddha was brought to Sri
Lanka in 4th Century EC. After that all the Kings should be Buddhist
to rule Sri Lanka. It was a practice if you are the King of Sri Lanka the Scared
Tooth Relic should be in the capital of the kingdom. As the time passed by Kingdom
locations were changed from Anuradhapura to Kandy. Therefore resting place for
Scared Tooth Relic also changed accordingly. The last Kingdom of Sri Lanka is
Kandy. That is why still the Lord Buddha’s Scared tooth Relic in housed in
Kandy. This is the reason the today’s Esala Perahera is called ‘Kandy EsalaPerahera’.
It is truly a magnificent event which is a very important
date in Sri Lankan calendar. More than 2000 people participate in the parade
and more than 80 Elephants are parade. This is the pinnacle showpiece of Old
Sri Lankan cultural festival. It is being telecasted live on National
Television Channels and on the world wide web. But this time it will be telecasted
live in South Korea.
This
year Perahera will start on the 15th of August 2015 and the final
and the biggest Perahera (Parade) will be held on the 29th of August
2015 night. Lot of foreigners arranges their tour to Sri Lanka to witness this
magnificent event.
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